Wednesday, June 29, 2011

FUND RAISING, FUND RAISER PROJECTS, MEETINGS, RED TAPE, PLEADING, CAJOLING, DESIGNING, COLLABORATING, CRYING, LAUGHING, and most of all, SWEATING for the FIVE DAYS it took to BUILD the PLAYGROUND...

PLAYSTATION,

(an ALL Accessible Playground)

IS A

REALITY

DIL and Youngest Grandchild, Mr. Grumpy

and...Here's My Inspiration for helping Build the Playground!!

My awesome Mr. Happy who LOVES to SWING!!

One fall afternoon, MY DD and I took Mr. Happy to a local park/playground. He was approx. 2 yrs. old and I was shocked and dismayed to realize for the first time since Happy was born that his Cerebral Palsy prevented him from being able to play with any of the playground features. I went home that afternoon and cried my heart out! My grief was palpable and for the first time I worried about what the future held for my precious little Mr. Happy. Before that moment, I didn't see his disability as being that big of a Deal. At that moment I went through the stages of grief in a matter of a few hours. I went from

Total Stunned Denial

to ANGER

to DEEP SADNESS/HOPELESSNESS,

to ACCEPTANCE

and finally

to ACTION!!

MY thought was..."WOW... wouldn't it be great to be in on the ground floor of building a playground?". However, I didn't have any hopes of that happening so I decided to start a campaign to at least get ONE handicapped swing in each local park. While working on that idea, my DD found a plea on Facebook for volunteers interested in helping raise funds and build a playground in the Northeastern part of our county!

God, You really do listen to me don't you??????

Cutting the Ribbon

I even helped name the Park!! That's why I get BIG SCISSORS!!

Fishing with PaPaw

After playing on the playground, all the grandchildren walked down to the small stocked lake with #1 Husband AKA...#1 Super PaPaw!! PaPaw came with fishing rods and bait (weiners! yep...best bait to catch brim and catfish) Here are THREE of the FIVE taking turns fishing with the three rods. Miss EG caught Three Fish all by herself...ONE catfish, TWO Brim)

Before I sign off let me leave you with my TWO great finds!! These two quilts were Given to me from the estate of a precious lady who died several years ago and left a trunkful of Quilt Tops! The DIL didn't want the quilts and asked if I would like to be their new owner. DUH??? These are Classic Patterns/Colors and I'm delighted to own them. Any suggestions on the the preferred quilting process?

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

I have your email addresses so I will email for your mailing address!!

There will be some nice *tuck-in* surprises.

Thank you for reading my blog and participating in my very first Give-Away!!

What Have I Been Up To In MY Sewing Room??

Come back tomorrow for more pictures!
I've been quite busy with my "Quilts for Hugs" project and the MANY donations from YOU, my blogging friends. Some have sent just Quilt tops and I've been able to personalize the quilts to give to babies!!

Plus,
I've been busy Building a Playground!!
Yep.... a Community Built Playground to the tune of $185,000!!!

We Raised the money in 18 months and built the actual playground in FIVE DAYS!!!
Last week, the concrete was poured and through-out the summer, landscaping will continue.

WHY ME??? Why Work so Hard on a Playground?
My Handicapped Grandson, James, can now swing and play along side other children his age even though he uses a walker! This playground is handicapped accessible and meets the requirements set forth by the Americans with Disabilities Act.to allow children to have access to playground facilities!!!!

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

One local grower, Mr. Fowler, grows his tomatoes UNDERCOVER of a GREENHOUSE but the plants are actually planted

IN RED ALABAMA CLAY DIRT...NOT POTS!!!

I'm originally from West Virginia and I thought I LIKEDTomatoes

UNTIL

I moved SOUTH and ate an ALABAMA Grown Tomato

Oh My Goodness...I LOVE LOVE TOMATOES!!!

Now, to the real reason for this post....

TOMATO SANDWICHES!!

Purists, like myself, claim you only need THREE Ingredients:

HOMEGROWN TOMATO

(preferably straight from the garden!)

MAYONNAISE

(HELLMANS my preference, what's YOURS?)

WHITE BREAD

(Plain Ol Soft Flowers or SunbeamWhite Bread or

Pepperidge Farm Sour Dough Bread when I'm being fancy)

SALT

(Some use Salt AND Pepper, I'm a Salt only kinda gal)

What else, you ask??? Absolutely NOTHING

NO MEAT, NO LETTUCE, NO CHEESE, NO PICKLE, NO MUSTARD

I've tried branching out by adding one slice of Cheese...I prefer the original

It's all about the sweet & salty combo

Some love Pepper & Salt...How 'bout you??

How do you Roll when it comes to Tomato Sandwiches??

Have you eaten one??

If not, Do you plan to taste test this southern delicacy??

OK

NOW FOR A SURPRISE!! A GIVEAWAY..My First!!

GIVE AWAY

Some Vintage Kitchen Linens Plus some *surprises* you WILL LIKE...PROMISE

and

all you have to do is

1: Be a follower of Grandmamas Stories

2:Comment : if You have ever eaten a Southern Tomato Sandwich!

This Give_Away lasts till Sunday June 26th at 12:00 p.m. noon CST

I found these in a local antique store back in March and blogged about them. They are so beautiful if you like this sort of thing. I'll put the names in a hat and allow my Granddaughter to pick a name!

A classmate sent a wonderful "reflection on growing older" the other day and gave me permission to share on my blog!

But First, let me Share:

I'm having camera problems so I'm not able to post pictures of my latest stitching endeavors.

A Big Ol Hug to Marlene, Charity, and Carol for their Quilt Donations to Quilts for Hugs!!

I promise to post pictures as soon as I resolve my camera issue.

AND NOW:

GETTING OLDER

As I've aged, I've become kinder to myself, and less critical of myself. I've become my own friend..

I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon; before they
understood the great freedom that comes with aging.

Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer until 4
AM or sleep until noon? I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes
of the 60 &70's, and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost
love .. I will.

I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging
body, and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to, despite
the pitying glances from the jet set. They, too, will get old.

I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as
well forgotten. And I eventually remember the important things.

Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not
break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when
somebody's beloved pet gets hit by a car? But broken hearts are what give
us strength and understanding and compassion. A heart never broken is
pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.

I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turning gray,
and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my
face. So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair
could turn silver..

As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what
other people think. I don't question myself anymore... I've even earned
the right to be wrong.

So, to answer your question, I like being old. It has set me free. I like
the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but while I am
still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or
worrying about what will be. And I shall eat dessert every single day(if
I feel like it).

Thursday, June 16, 2011

I don't know about you, but trying to find a bathing suit is right up there with pulling my lower lip up over my head! A Friend sent a very funny commentary on the ordeal of shopping for the perfect bathing suit. Unfortunately, the author is unknown so I can't give credit where credit is due but I just had to share it with you.

Plus, I am busy every day this week through Sunday afternoon with helping build a Community Built Playground! This playground will be handicapped accessible which means I will be able to take my Grandson James who has CP to a playground and he can play shoulder to shoulder with other children! I'm on the Food Crew, it's HOT, HOT, HOT and I'm Tired, Tired, Tired but it's all for James!

The Bathing Suit (by a middle-age woman unknown)When I was a child in the 1950s, the bathing suit for the mature figurewas-boned, trussed and reinforced, not so much sewn as engineered. Theywere built to hold back and uplift, and they did a good job.Today's stretch fabrics are designed for the prepubescent girl with afigure carved from a potato chip.The mature woman has a choice - she can either go up front to thematernity department and try on a floral suit with a skirt, coming awaylooking like a hippopotamus that escaped from Disney's Fantasia, or shecan wander around every run-of-the-mill department store trying to makea sensible choice from what amounts to a designer range of fluorescentrubber bands.What choice did I have? I wandered around, made my sensible choice andentered the chamber of horrors known as the fitting room. The firstthing I noticed was the extraordinary tensile strength of the stretchmaterial. The Lycra used in bathing costumes was developed, I believe,by NASA to launch small rockets from a slingshot, which gives the addedbonus that if you manage to actually lever yourself into one, you wouldbe protected from shark attacks - any shark taking a swipe at yourpassing midriff would immediately suffer whiplash.I fought my way into the bathing suit, but as I twanged the shoulderstrap in place I gasped in horror: my boobs had disappeared!Eventually, I found one boob cowering under my left armpit. It took awhile to find the other. At last I located it flattened beside myseventh rib.The problem is that modern bathing suits have no bra cups. The maturewoman is meant to wear her boobs spread across her chest like a speedbump. I realigned my speed bump and lurched toward the mirror to take afull view assessment.The bathing suit fit all right, but unfortunately it only fitthose bits of me willing to stay inside it. The rest of me oozed outrebelliously from top, bottom and sides. I looked like a lump ofPlay-doh wearing undersized cling wrap.As I tried to work out where all those extra bits had come from, theprepubescent sales girl popped her head through the curtain, 'Oh, thereyou are,' she said, admiring the bathing suit.I replied that I wasn't so sure and asked what else she had to show me.I tried on a cream crinkled one that made me look like a lump ofmasking tape, and a floral two-piece that gave the appearance of anover-sized napkin in a serving ring.I struggled into a pair of leopard-skin bathers with ragged frills andcame out looking like Tarzan's Jane, pregnant with triplets and havinga rough day.I tried on a black number with a midriff and looked like a jellyfish inmourning.I tried on a bright pink pair with such a high cut leg I thought Iwould have to wax my eyebrows to wear them.Finally, I found a suit that fit...a two-piece affair with ashorts-style bottom and a loose blouse-type top. It was cheap,comfortable, and bulge-friendly, so I bought it. My ridiculous searchhad a successful outcome, I figured.When I got it home, I found a label that read: 'Material might becometransparent in water'.So, if you happen to be on the beach or near any other body of waterthis year and I'm there too, I'll be the one in cut-off jeans and aT-shirt!You'd better be laughing or rolling on the floor by this time. Lifeisn't about how to survive the storm, but how to dance in the rain.With or without a bathing suit.

Friday, June 3, 2011

She has posted an absolute wonderful little pattern of a dress for each of us to use in our stitching. You MUST hop on over there and check it her challenge to stitch up some dresses and show off our designs in a Flickr account. You will want to join us for the fun!

Anyhoo, this whole Stitching Dress Challenge brought back fond memories of a book I once read to a group of elementary students, titled, "The Hundred Dresses" written by Eleanor Estes in 1944. With the topic of Bullying being such a hot button issue in today's schools, the theme of this book could not be more timely nor poignant. The book is one of those books that stays with you and resurrects in your memory throughout a lifetime. Here is a brief synopsis:

The book centers on Wanda Petronski, a poor and friendless Polish-American girl. Her teacher, outwardly kind, puts her in the worst seat in the schoolroom and does not intervene when her schoolmates tease her. One day, after her classmates laugh at her funny last name and the faded blue dress she wears to school every day, Wanda claims to own one hundred dresses, all lined up in her closet at her worn down house. This outrageous and obvious lie becomes a game, as the girls in her class corner her every day before school, demanding that she describe for them all of her dresses.Wanda ends up leaving school and moving to the city. After she has moved, a dress design competition at school reveals that she was, indeed, telling the truth. Her winning entry consists of beautiful, detailed drawings of one hundred dresses, each exactly as she had described. Her tormentors are awed by her artistic talent.

As some of you already know, I am a retired educator with 30+ yrs. experience in special education and literacy.

When I read, 100 Dresses to my third, fourth, and fifth graders, they were transformed by it's message better than any lecture I could have ever prepared. Sadly, I must have left my copy of 100 Dresses in my old classroom and will most certainly be ordering a new copy tonight on Amazon!

However, with the Dress challenge, I knew I HAD to share the book, it's timeless truths, and inspire a whole new group of readers of a much *wiser* age! I'll share a brief synopsis of the book and challenge you to go check it out at the library or better yet, order your own copy ESPECIALLY if you have a young ones ages 6-12 (approx.).

THEN...make a copy of Madame's pattern and DESIGN your OWN Dress. Once you read the book, I PROMISE you will want to make an entire QUILT. I know I AM!!

I don't know about you, but I grew up in a era of the 50's that didn't allow girls to wear pants to school. In fact, since my name was JANE, my mother dressed me like the little girl in our Reading Series, DICK & JANE!!

How many of you remember Dick, Jane, Spot, Puff...?????Is it an American thing??? I found this fabric a few years back and bought every pattern in the series!! I guess you could call this one of my UFO Quilts but it fits quite nicely into this post, don;'t you think?? Check out the little blonde girl...everyone used to tell me I looked exactly like "Jane" in our reading books...I even wore the Mary Jane shoes and had a Buster Brown sweater to match each dress. My sweet Mama made sure I had a dress for every special occasion /holiday!.

Check out some dresses down thru the ages...

Geez...way too much corseting going on here!!

Look at those tiny waists!!! I bet they didn't breathe all day!

More my style!

This was the epitimy of MOM perfection back in the 50's. Every TV sitcom mother dressed like this...June Cleaver, Donna Reed, ...can you name some others????

I'm excited to use Madam Samm's Dress's pattern in my Dress Quilt of which I'm naming

100 Dresses

http://stashmanicure.blogspot

Will you join me???

Hop on over to Stash Manicure and leave a comment to let me know you visited and perhaps a "DRESS" Memory of your own??? Oh, and tell me if you read the book!!

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

It's the Year of the Cicada...the 13th year to be exact in Alabama, Tennessee, & Georgia!! These little suckers lie dormant underground and every 13 years they burrow to the surface, molt, and leave the exoskeleton you see here.

The sound is unmistakeable...Love is in the Air!!! Looking for a Mate, the mating sound of the Cicada fills the southern airwaves...drowning out car horns, traffic, and all conversation!

Sitting out on our patio last Sunday Night, we had to raise our voices to be heard above the millions of Cicadas. AAAH, isn't Love Grand??

My Grandson and I actually watched one burrow to the top of the ground to wait for the drying off stage.

He and I tried to wait for the molting process but the attention span of a 3 yr. old doesn't wait for a 13 yr. old Cicada to get undressed!

The loud sound of the little critters chirping these days, reminds me of my first summer in Alabama.

The Cicadas were loud and proud in June of 1977.

Here I was...

24 yrs. old...

9 hrs. away from home...

no immediate family...

no friends...

young mother of an 11 month old little boy

and didn't even know my way to the grocery store.

My first morning alone, #1 Husband had left for work and I walked outside to the mailbox to discover

COFFEE MADNESS

Hand Stitching Never Goes Out Of Style! Celebrating All Things Needle and Thread

WE SUPPORT YOU

GRANDMAMA'S STORIES

May I Introduce Myself

I'm a retired educator of 30+ yrs., mother to 1 son and 2 daughters, "Grandmama" to 5 precious Grandpeeps, married 40 yrs.to my college sweetheart,and savoring every minute of my new stage in life as an empty nester and Retired Grandmother in Chief. I enjoy quilting, stitching, reading, DIY projects, front porch sitting, auctions, thrift stores, morning coffee, Diet Pepsi, tea cups, tea pots, pretty dishes, vintage kitchen linens, vintage sewing items, and family dinners with my party of 12. #1 husband is recently retired so we plan to spend lots of good times camping, yard sale-ing, going to auctions, and simply enjoying each other's company. Thank you Lord for saving me, blessing me, and making me a home in Heaven with you.
Jeremiah 29:11